BASIC SKILLS WRITING MOOC “CRAFTING AN EFFECTIVE WRITER”

Pat James

Mt. San Jacinto College http://msjc.eduCrafting an Effective Writer: http://coursera.org/course/basicwriting

Roger Schultz

WELCOME TO “CRAFTING AN EFFECTIVE WRITER”

The CEW Team

How did this happen to us?

There’s always a story…..

Don’t try this at home!Translation: Don’t try this alone!

Great partners! Coursera and Gates Development time: 8 QUICK months! Cost: $65,000! $50k from Gates, $15k

in-kind Additional help: 7 peer writing tutors Total: 14 people in the discussions!

(session 1) Session 2: 5 faculty/staff, 2 peer writing

tutors, 10 Community TA’s

Some quick figures…

45, 089 enrolled 29, 195 actively participated 11,147 students completed the surveys 10,214 attempted the first quiz 8,091 accessed final week of content 3,774 attempted the final quiz 2,749 earned a certificate of completion

• These numbers were from the first class offered May 2013,

• numbers are almost identical for 2nd session offered October 2013

Why would you take this class?

As a pre-Assessment activity As a petition for English placement As a brush-up for students while in

writing classes As a brush-up for students who

don’t/can’t enroll in an English class As a resource for flipped/blended

classrooms To become a better writer

Who was our intended audience?

College bound, underprepared students: The course provides fundamental writing skills for college bound students prior to taking placement tests, saving them from spending unwarranted time and money for remediation should they be placed below transfer level. Successful completion of the course may be accepted as an alternative to a placement test.

Current high school and college students in regular classes: This course provides writing support for any student taking any course at any time.

Global Community Members: This course will assist people in improving their writing skills to satisfy their need to be productive citizens in a global society.

What Motivated you to enroll in this course? 50% to Increase success.

3%

2%2%

4%

22%

50%

17%

Reason for EnrollingGet a jumpstart on college while I’m still in high school.

Prepare to take the com-munity college assessment test (you have not taken it yet).

Improve my score on the community college as-sessment test (you took it and want to improve your score).

Get support for a college class I am currently taking.

Increase success in my academic field of study.

Increase success in my pro-fession or career.

None of the above

Number=15, 457

2nd session

70% not enrolled in any other school.

50%

20%

17%

5%

6%

2%

Entry Survey Participants by Ed Status

Not a student--goal: to learn and personal growth

Not a student-goal: career enhance-ment

Student in BA or university institu-tion

CC student

High school

Below high school 2nd session

Who was our intended audience? College bound, underprepared students: The course provides

fundamental writing skills for college bound students prior to taking placement tests, saving them from spending unwarranted time and money for remediation should they be placed below transfer level. Successful completion of the course may be accepted as an alternative to a placement test.

Current high school and college students in regular classes: This course provides writing support for any student taking any course at any time.

Global Community Members: This course will assist people in improving their writing skills to satisfy their need to be productive citizens in a global society. Type it in the chat window,

preface it with ???, and raise your hand.

Some Quick Demographics

166 Countries Represented 70% Students from outside U.S. 33% had never taken an online class, 51%

had taken 1-3 online classes Female 65% Male 32% (some chose not to

answer) Among Californians (927 respondents), the

participation rate of community college students was much higher than among the general population of survey respondents (25% in California compared to 5% overall).

Age and Gender

30% between 25 and 34 years old 20% between 18 and 24 years old 18% between 35 and 44 years old 11% were 50 or older 5% were 18 or younger

“Learning knows no age”

Show the class!

Review some videos on your own.

End of week 1 “pop” video: http://youtu.be/9a6h-mgGbCI

Week 2 lecture Video: http://youtu.be/cVtyZsEG7sw

Our farewell video: http://youtu.be/PYZVZEtWUjo

Approved by Quality Matters (score: 95)

Link to the Course

To enroll in the course, please visit

http://coursera.org/course/basicwriting